Ward: "No Time To Dwell"

It is a massive disappointment but we have got big enough characters in the squad to respond to it"

Stephen Ward

Stephen Ward says Wolves have to come through an “all or nothing” clash with Burnley on Saturday to ensure they stay up.

Saturday’s last gasp defeat to Charlton – when a draw would have kept Wolves out of the npower Championship bottom three – has heightened the need for victory against the Clarets ahead of a final day trip to promotion-chasing Brighton in 12 days time.

And Ward believes it is up to the Wolves players to hit back from the crushing disappointment at the Valley to show the character to respond as they did in beating Hull last Tuesday.

“We have to get a result next week and if we do that we have got a good chance of staying up,” he said.

“A couple of the teams might play each other on the last week but first and foremost we have to get a result on Saturday and see where that gets us.

“Next week is turned into an all or nothing game – win and have a good chance of staying up and lose and we are most likely relegated.

“We have to get our heads on that and start preparing for it straightaway.

“We have to put the Charlton result behind us as quickly as possible.

“It is a massive disappointment but we have got big enough characters in the squad to respond to it.

“The manner in which we lost is hurting more than the actual result and the scrappy goals have really let us down.

“But we have to react on Saturday, come back strongly and get three points which will be valuable for us.

“You cannot dwell on this.

“We were hurting over the weekend but once we get back in today we have to get it out of our systems and prepare for a massive game on Saturday which is now the main focus.”

It was a hugely disappointed group of staff and players which exited the Valley on Saturday, having matched in-form Charlton for most of the game and indeed looked the more likely winners in the final ten minutes.

But then a shot rebounded perfectly for Addicks substitute Jonathan Obika, whose close range finish denied Wolves the point they deserved.

“It was very difficult to take,” added Ward.

“Coming in after the match we saw we’d still have been out of the relegation zone if we’d taken a point.

“It was two soft goals we conceded.

“The first was very scrappy and for the second it was one of those things when they got in behind us and they had that bit of luck with the deflection falling straight to their player.

“When you concede so late it is always a massive disappointment.

“For the majority of the game we had kept Charlton quiet and they hadn’t really caused us problems.

“They have been on a good run of form but we minimised their attacking threat for most of the game.

“We bounced straight back after their goal and having equalised felt that we were the team that could go on and win it.

“But when it gets to those latter stages we are very disappointed that we didn’t see the game out and take the point which would have been invaluable.”